How would you recommend approaching raids?

[Wintermute.5408]

I've been eyeing raids for years now, but never gathered the courage to actually do them. At the moment I'm progressing through T3 fractals without sucking too much, was doing some strikes with decent results. I almost exclusively play necro, have power and condition ascended sets, currently work on a support gear. Joining any serious raiding guild for now is out of question - I can't schedule my runs ATM.

 

So, what would be the best approach to get into pugs? Would necro suffice, and what role would be more desirable? Or should I gear some alt? What bosses would you recommend touching for a noob to build up some LIs? 

[Krzysztof.5973]

(W3) Escort, KC (W4) Cairn, MO, Sama first. And if you feel comfortable with those you can move to any other wing. For low-li raids having power and condi necro is more than enough for dps players. 

[Moradorin.6217]

I would say you should read & or watch a few guides on the Bosses for Wing 4(or which ever rly). Cairn is the simplest boss and also the first boss in Wing 4. Its small hitbox, condi prefered. Sourge is very good on it (since you play necro), next boss is MO epi scourge is meta for MO and pretty much a standard. I would personally try wing 4 first, although as Kryz mentioned Escort (w3) is beginner friendly as long as you have a tower person and a few other jobs covered.

 

Raids are much more doable than most realize. Exotic level gear is just fine for raids provided its the correct stats for the build and the build is appropriate for the boss and role you are filling in the team. Honestly, the most common error people make when trying raids is to use high sustain Openworld and/or WvW type builds and gear stats in raids. What I mean is, remember raiding is a 10 man pve composition so unless you are talk you dont run toughness gear. You dont change stats to up personal sustain unless you have a reason that benefits the group, etc. Each person fills a specific role: tank, healer, offheal, quickness, alac, bs, dps.

 

Also, Its easiest to start out on a DPS role because support roles often have more distractions so playing dps can make it easier to focus on the encounter rather than boon/heal coverage. That said, Im not implying you cannot train doing the others. Im only saying its usually easier to learn the encounters as dps.

 

Also finding groups: you can just look in lfg for training/practice raids, join a guild that raids, throw your own lfg up and/or try a group like RA to get some experience.

 

Also inconsistent play times dont mean u cannot join a guild for raids. Many guilds do on the fly raids in which people who have an hour or two to play are free to join the raid provided they can fill a role and it has room.

 

Just go for it dude! GL and have fun.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Moradorin.6217

[weaponwh.9810]

go to RA, get some raid training from instructor, then practice.  thats how i started.

 

https://snowcrows.com/community/raid-training

[Astralporing.1957]

Personally i'd advice you to first go for Fractal t4's and CMs, as well as harder strikes (voice, boneskinner). Only after you will feel comfortable in those i'd go for raids.

 

There's a massive gap between lower tier fractals/easy strikes and raids. It's almost like a completey different game.

[Cyninja.2954]

1. PUGing raids, especially as new player, is painful and very time consuming. It is the MOST difficult approach to get into this content among all approaches.

 

2. If no dedicated or fixed schedule is possible, I would still recommend joining a guild which does raid trainings (keep an eye out for guild listings especially in player hubs, many mention which content is being done). Having experienced people to ask, even when not committed to a regular raid schedule is very useful and sometimes things line up nicely and one can make that training raid

 

3. Try to get to T4 fractals. Run arcdps to get an overview of where and how you stand performance wise as well as get accustomed to using arc. Don't fret it, you will see HUGE performance disparities between different players (especially in T3). Use this as a tool for information, NOT flaming

 

4. Get 1 or 2 builds ready (ideally power and condition) and get a at least rudimentary understanding of how they are played (check a guide, practice on the golem, see where you stand performance wise)

 

5. DON'T panic or go overboard with preparation. I see players preparing dozens of classes or getting them "raid ready" before even taking 1 step into the content. Save your gold. Get good at 1-2 and then expand your roster AFTER you have become accustomed with the content.

 

6. Always be mindful of who is giving you advice, and don't take abuse or toxic behavior as granted or necessary (again far less likely in a guild atmosphere). What I mean is: some of the most toxic players you can meet are the fledgling raiders who have their first few encounters behind them and think they are the greatest or bring an attitude towards newer players.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Cyninja.2954

[weaponwh.9810]

i think RA is the best to start raiding.  there are alot members there.  and alot super exp raider/mentor/instructor who teach newbie on mechanics.  everyday there are some training session for various bosses. youll just need join their discord channel. 

[Fangoth.4503]

On 6/23/2021 at 2:19 PM, Wintermute.5408 said:

I've been eyeing raids for years now, but never gathered the courage to actually do them. At the moment I'm progressing through T3 fractals without sucking too much, was doing some strikes with decent results. I almost exclusively play necro, have power and condition ascended sets, currently work on a support gear. Joining any serious raiding guild for now is out of question - I can't schedule my runs ATM.

 

So, what would be the best approach to get into pugs? Would necro suffice, and what role would be more desirable? Or should I gear some alt? What bosses would you recommend touching for a noob to build up some LIs? 

Necro is totally fine, make sure you have SC build and gear to start in good condition.
Install arcdps (if not already done) and practice for soth like 30min-1h on golem
Either join a raid community (NA: RA; EU: inn, RTI and more) to get trainings or joing pug trainings and be patient.
Don't hesitate to ask for advice if you see someone performing better than you on same class DPSwise.

for an easy start you can do:
w1 boss 1-2
w3 boss 1-2
w4 boss 1-3
other boss are not that much harder and can be done in you first week if you have enough dedication

[Wintermute.5408]

On 6/28/2021 at 8:55 PM, Fangoth.4503 said:

Necro is totally fine, make sure you have SC build and gear to start in good condition.
Install arcdps (if not already done) and practice for soth like 30min-1h on golem
Either join a raid community (NA: RA; EU: inn, RTI and more) to get trainings or joing pug trainings and be patient.
Don't hesitate to ask for advice if you see someone performing better than you on same class DPSwise.

for an easy start you can do:
w1 boss 1-2
w3 boss 1-2
w4 boss 1-3
other boss are not that much harder and can be done in you first week if you have enough dedication

Thanks a lot, man!

[daisyk.4523]

If you enjoy necro now is the time to go for it!

 

Are you in NA or EU? For EU I hear the raid training guilds tend to be more effective/efficient, and it might be worth joining one like RTI, I'm sure there are lots more though. For NA there's Raid Academy which is a good place to practice classes, learn mechanics, and ask questions about encounters and rotations. I honestly wish RA was divided by encounter (eg "Sloth", "KC", "Xera") instead of class but that may just be me personally.

 

 

Watching YouTube videos, reading SC guides, and Dulfy helps with mechanics. Keep an eye out for training runs in LFG! They do require constant checking in NA to come across, but lower LI groups pop up quite frequently in EU during prime time.

 

I'd recommend doing FCs instead of just the "free" runs to build LI, as they get you more experience and you'll probably be sick of some in-between-mini-events that give LI anyway. The first three bosses for W4 are generally pretty easy for a newer training group.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Kahlan.7249

[Antioche.7034]

On 6/23/2021 at 3:19 PM, Wintermute.5408 said:

I've been eyeing raids for years now, but never gathered the courage to actually do them. At the moment I'm progressing through T3 fractals without sucking too much, was doing some strikes with decent results. I almost exclusively play necro, have power and condition ascended sets, currently work on a support gear. Joining any serious raiding guild for now is out of question - I can't schedule my runs ATM.

 

So, what would be the best approach to get into pugs? Would necro suffice, and what role would be more desirable? Or should I gear some alt? What bosses would you recommend touching for a noob to build up some LIs? 

 

I would recommand getting in touch with a training community and learning with them instead of heading in pugs. It teaches better habits without the toxicity of the pugs. I would also recommand installing arcdps and training at the golem, be it for DPS or giving boons. Necro is not the best class at the moment, but it'll do fine as DPS to start with.

 

You can find some training communities on Snowcrows.com, just pick the one who suits you best. 

[Wintermute.5408]

I'm EU. Almost got to T4 fractals - just a question of 75 becoming daily again.

 

BTW, just wanted to double-check - is arcdps safe to use? No bans or anything?

Edited July 3, 2021 by Wintermute.5408

[Cyninja.2954]

3 hours ago, Wintermute.5408 said:

I'm EU. Almost got to T4 fractals - just a question of 75 becoming daily again.

 

BTW, just wanted to double-check - is arcdps safe to use? No bans or anything?

 

If you want to wait until 75 is daily, that works. Remember though that you can also have someone take you along into any fractal above 75 to increase your rank to 75+, in case you do want to have faster access to the T4 LFG.

 

Yes, arcdps is currently safe to use.

[Fangoth.4503]

yeah at the moment ArcDps comply with Anet rules and the player that develop arc makes sure it stays alike (e.g: removing template from arc when anet releaset it ingame).
it's hard to tell in a week, a month or further as Anet can change their policy at anytime. But in that case i'd expect them to first warn players about their switch so they can adapt arcdps to fit it or let players remove it rather than banning a more than decent chuck of their raid community

[Creepezel.2149]

Ok so, here are some tips form player that just began raids 1 week ago:

1. Pick your class not because of how strong in raid it is, but because you know it quite well, and are comfortable using. Though, it would be better to have some diversity. DPS players are very easy to find, while searching for support like HQFB or Dudu might be a problem, might not. So if you're comfortable using, for example, Berserker and Chronomancer, prepare yourself for situations where you either use Berserker to help with dps, or chronomancer to tank the damage cause no one else is willing to for some reason. Then, check out snowcrows.com for it's meta build. Exotic is easy to afford and good enough to push trough, ascended aren't necessary.

2. Train your combo on the golem in training area till you don't mess it up. If you can execute it on stationary target, you could do it on moving target too, well, not with 100% accurracy for sure but at least, most of it. Aim to hit at least 80% DPS of the benchmark of class you're playing.

3. What I also noticed is an issue, not every player bothers to read how the bosses work or at least watches youtube guide for it. For the love of god, sacroffice that 30 minutes to read the page about, for example, wing 1 on metabattle, or 20 minutes long video from MightyTeapot. You need to know for what kind of mechanics you have to prepare for, at least, should.

4. If you did points 1 - 3, time to get into raid. How ? Aim for wing 1 - 3 as they're quite simple, starting from wing 4 - 6 is a bad bad bad idea... Then, there's group. From my adventures/mistakes, I would say there are 3 ways:

 First: Offer to make a learning group for everyone. Worst possible option as I quickly found out, but the one that finds players the quickest. With that, you're exposing yourself to players that did not watched even a single vid about the raid you're trying to approach and will have to explain the mechanics by yourself before each fight. Chances to clear the wing or get stuck on first boss are, 50%/50%. You either suffer out of feeling generous, or because of being a masochist. Example how to announce it on LFG:

W1 | All bosses | For learning | Everyone welcome

Second: Create training group. Less painfull option to start the raid. With this you have to state that, you're expecting players who took their own time to read about wing you're approaching. But if they're telling the truth or are lying, you will discover from how often they mess up boss mechanics or how quickly they end up killed. Example how to announce it on LFG:

W1 | All bosses | Training, no KP or LI needed, but know mechanics | Alac + Dudu + HFB + PDPS + CDPS

Third: Use this way after you've defeated raid wing at least once. In here, you expect players that not only know mechanics, but also own KP to prove they had really defeated these bosses, or just ask about LI count as proof they did some raid at least. Both ways have flaws anyway. KP can be faked as, bosses don't drop single "guild decoration" but 1-5. It can be also earned from joining groups that skipped some of the bosses. LI's can be earned from any wing, so someone might have 10 LI but never did wing 3 before, for example. Example how to announce it on LFG:

W1 | All bosses | 1 KP or at least 5 LI | Chrono + Alac + Dudu + Warrior + HQFB + PDPS + CDPS

Raids are not as hard as they seem, you just have to use your own time to learn boss mechanics, and which classes would prove usefull for specific wing. Like, for Wing 1 you need a tank, but in Wing2 tank is useless. Also, as a person commanding the group, you will be tasked with assigning roles. For example, you will be responsible in wing 2 to mark mushrooms, then find volunteers willing to transforms into larva, and slowly eat the path for the team. Or in wing 4 assign who's going to kite Deimos aoe's and who's going to tank his AA. Anyways, that's how my experience looks, and so far it just works lol. Good luck mate !

Edited July 7, 2021 by Creepezel.2149

[Fangoth.4503]

4 is easy too, Deimos can be annoying at start but b1-3 are totally doable and help you get your LI up 🙂